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Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Garden is finally starting to look like a garden

I've been so busy in the garden, I haven't had much opportunity to chronicle. But my hard work is starting to pay off - it's all starting to look like a garden again rather than a hodgepodge of plants.

And speaking of plants, this definitely seems to be the year of the hosta - they are brilliant this year in our gardens.

And, for those ferns that survived - a tricky year for many of the native ferns - they're looking very pretty as well:

Nothing like 3 hours of edging to give you some new ideas for the garden. I've decided that I'm going to corral and combine my heuchera/ellas/tiarellas to add a little more impact. A number of years ago I had the good fortune of visiting Terra Nova's display garden and was certainly impressed with how fabulous they all looked together. Then visiting the Chelsea flower show and seeing this marvellous display (and how the heck did they get so many of them to bloom at the same time.....!!!!!)

Buffalo's Jim Charlier Art of Gardening showed just how great they can look in a home garden (and as a plug to anyone who is a couple hour's drive of Buffalo - do hope you're going to enjoy at least one day of their splendid Garden Walk Buffalo on either July 26th & 27th)

As I was going through the garden found that I've got quite an inventory, from the Heuchera 'Dales Strain' that I've grown from seed:

to H 'Lipstick'

H. (Terra Nova Tag Gone Silver and Maroon)

H 'Vienna' - wonder if it will expand in size when it is returned to its family?

H. 'Blackberry Crisp' above...below maybe 'Georgia Peach' - although I do like it next to the Geranium.

And another to be moved just to the left at the bottom....a bed I've yet to get a firm grip on. And looking below, Empress Wu is asking for a bit of room. Yet another case of the plants not reading their tags correctly and growing accordingly. Not the Empress - she's huge, it's about those Phlox that were not supposed to be competing the year after I split them.

Such a lovely peony - such a shame you can only see it when you lift it up.

My big bed on Saturday a.m.

and after!

and after the rain:

The Achillea is so much happier now. Moved from underan overgrown bush last year.

I really like Deutsia 'Chardonnay Pearls'. Long period of bloom. Stays small. And of course, has chartreuse leaves which brighten any darker patch.

I know it's completely weedy, but thank goodness for weedy when I've lost so many old perennials Lysimachia punctata:

anything looks great if the lighting is good:

Haven't been doing too much in the back garden - still waiting for an arborist to clean up the pine - afraid of being clobbered by one of the dead branches when the wind picks up - and of course the fence to be rebuilt - but here are a few snaps of what's happening:

Agatha's final resting spot:

The Aruncus dioicus just starting to bloom - didn't realize its fragrance was so lovely.

and its black velvet shot - it was covered in pollinators - large and small:

Clematis much smaller this year - but Martagon lilies are just fine. And, no lily beetles.....

Last week brought more stormy weather:

But when the weather cleared - I noticed how well all the white plants were doing:

My Hydrangea heteromalla I grew from seed:

More of the Aruncus:

Anemone canadensis: (warning - it's invasive. Bart runs through it - I yank it out in handfuls when it's finished blooming)

And, my Persicaria polymorpha - SANS JAPANESE BEETLES - was our winter from hell good for something? Could their numbers have been knocked back significantly?

Gillenia trifolia: (Can be invasive further south of here - but for me it stays in a nice little patch)

Took this on a morning walk - as they said at the RBG - there is no rhyme or reason about what lived and what died after this winter - so sad - they're about 3-4 meters high. These twins obviously planted at the same time years ago.

Back garden with all the lovely annuals I potted up from Loblaw:

Geranium 'Splish Splash'. Every year I take a close-up and issue a warning. Yes, very pretty if you're up nice and close - however, if you want to understand the impact of this plant in your garden - drop a candy wrapper across the street on a neighbour's lawn run across the street and there you have it - 'Splish Splash' in your garden. The power of a cute name and freckles.

The fairies are hiding inside to keep dry:

I cut back the fall asters to keep them nice and bulky and full. Actually I did it because I was tired of edging and I was looking for an excuse to do anything else.

A truly silly Allium that like the others is an excellent self-seeder.

And one last shot of Lake Ontario from this a.m. Looking at this it really does look much cleaner than it used to. If it ever gets warm again, I might just be tempted to join this duck for a swim.

4 comments:

Your garden is looking wonderful Barbara! I love the impact of the orange annuals from Loblaw. My own color schemes seem to have no rime or reason which has left me feeling unhappy with how my container plantings look. I have a question about Gillenia trifolia. I added it to the garden last summer and am loving it in flower, but worry about how well it self-seeds. Will I have a million of them if I don't deadhead it?

WOW! I hardly know where to begin, your garden looks so beautiful! LOVE all the hostas, and that pic of the heucheras together - wonderful idea! Just gorgeous. Thanks for sharing. Nice work on the edging!

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About Me

I am a garden designer, consultant and writer. In addition, I work with my husband who is a real estate agent - doing the photographs, feature sheets and book keeping.
I love dogs - especially great big ones (and now very a very small dear one) - and the odd friendly cat. I travel whenever I have the money. And love nothing better than entertaining and cooking up a storm.